Apparatus for preparing padded trim panels



1939- c. w. AVERYET AL 2,167, 6

APPARATUS FOR PREPARING PADDED TRIM PANELS Filed Jan. 17, 1936 2Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR 5 (/mma' 14. fll er 8- 1939 c. w. AVERY ET AL2,167,862

APPARATUS FOR PREPARING PADDED TE IIM PANELS Filed Jan. 17, 1936 v 2Sheet-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. flare/ma A! fill wry,

A ORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 1, 1939 UNITED STATES APPARATUS FOR PREPARING PADDED TRIMPANELS Clarence W. Avery and Alfred H. Haberstump, Detroit, Mich.,assignors to The Murray Corp. of America, a corporation of DelawareApplication January 17, 1936, Serial No. 59,593

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a method and means for preparing paddedpanels and particularly to a method and means for applying a padding offibres to a cardboard and cutting the assembled sheet to desired shape.

Various methods have been employed heretofore to construct a paddedbacking element for receiving a trim material to form trim panels forthe inner surface of a vehicle body, particularly for the doors thereof.A separate pad was placed on the cardboard and the unit disposed facedown on the trim material. The edges of the trim material and cardboardwere sprayed with an adhesive material after which the edges of the trimmaterial were drawn over the edges of the cardboard and secured to theback side thereof.

The same assembled unit is obtained when practicing the presentinvention which combines various steps to continuously produce paddedcardboard assemblies. A Garnetting machine arranges a thin layer ofcoming-led fibres and distributes the layer overa conveyor belt and ontoan adhesive material applied to sheets of cardboard which are advancedon a conveyor disposed thereunder. The layers of fibres are compressedonto the cardboard in a compacted mass and are conveyed to a stackingtable where pairs of the padded cardboards are stacked together with thepadding in face to face relation. The assembly is then delivered to avpress between dies which shear and punch the cardboard and padding intodesired shape. In this manner a right and left hand padded cardboard isprovided for the two sides of a vehicle body.

Accordingly, the main objects of the invention are to apply an adhesiveto a backing sheet and deliver a padding material thereto; to assemble apad on a surface of a backing sheet after adhesive material has beenapplied thereto; to separate continuous padding at portions unsecured tobacking sheets as the padding and sheets continuously advance intosecured relation; to stack pairs of the padded sheets with the paddingin face to face relation; to stamp thestacked sheets between dies of apress to shear the edges of the padding and sheets to shape and to punchholes therethrough, and in general to deliver and assemble fibres toform continuous padding, convey the padding onto adhesive surfaces ofspaced advancing backing sheets, sever the padding between the sheets,stack the padded sheets in pairs with the padding in face to facerelation, and shear the assembled pairs into desired shape to providepairs of padded sheets of opposite hand.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent whenreferring, for a better understanding thereof, to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Figure 1 is a side view, in perspective, of an assembly line embodyingfeatures of our invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of a portion of the lineillustrated in Fig. 1 with the stacking elements in horizontal position;

Fig. 3 is a view ofthe structure illustrated in Fig. 2 with the stackingelements in partially folded position;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a pair of stacked elements with the lines ofshear illustrated thereon;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 4, takenon the line 55 thereof;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a padded backing element after the trimmaterial has been added thereto, and

Fig. '7 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 6,taken on the line 6--6 thereof.

In the co-pending application of Clarence W. Avery, Serial No. 59,592,filed January 1'7, 1936, and assigned to the assignee of the presentinvention, a method and means are disclosed for forming and blankingpadded cardboard to be employed as the foundation for a door trim panel.While we mention specifically that the panels are to be employed fortrimming doors and the interior of automobile bodies, it is to beunderstood that many other applications for the assembly will beapparent to anyone skilled in the art and we, therefore, do not limitourselves to these automobile trim panels.

The present invention pertains to another method and means for carryingout the inventive concept in the above mentioned co-pending application.

Referring to Fig. 1, we have disclosed a plurality of devices in alignedrelation which continuously advance cardboard and padding andprogressively operate thereon to produce the padded backing elements.The line of devices thus constructed embodies a spraying cabinet ID forapplying adhesive material to one surface of a cardboard. The cardboardis advanced into the spraying device by a manually operated,spring-retracted carrying element H and is picked up and advancedtherefrom by a conveyor belt l2. Above the conveyor belt 2, a conveyorbelt I3 is operated to have a plurality of layers of fibres disposedthereon by a Garnetting machine M. The Garnetting machine is well knownin the art and embodies means for combining fibres and distributes themon a conveyor belt l5 which is oscillated across the top of the conveyorbelt l3 to build up a thickness of fibre layers thereon. The speed ofoperation of the Garnetting machine and the belt l3 regulates the depthof the pile of fibres thus produced.

As the continuous pad of layers of fibre elements is advised from theconveyor belt l3, it is delivered upon the glue side of the spacedcardboards advanced on the conveyor belt l2. The

. ating through a chain belt 38.

pad portions between the spaced cardboards is torn apart by theseparating rolls I 6 and H. The roll I6 is stopped periodically after apadded cardboard has passed thereunder While. the roll advances it tothereby tear the padding material apart between adjacent cardboards.

The cardboards with the separated padding material are advanced by theconveyor belts l8 onto a stacking table IS. The stacking tableautomatically stacks one of the cardboards upon the other with thepadding material in face to face relation and advances the cardboardinto the dies 2| of the press 22. The dies blank out the cardboard inpairs and thereby provide both a left hand and a right hand panel. Alaterally movable table 23 supports a plurality of sets of dies 2| andpositions the dies relative to the press 22 so that they may be readilyremoved and other pairs of dies substituted. In this manner, variousshapes and sizes of pairs of panels may be constructed by the singleline of devices.

In Figs. 2 and 3, we have shown an enlarged view of the stacking tablel9 and press 22. Uprights 24 pivotally support a shaft 25 and a pair ofarms 26. Track elements 21 are carried by the uprights 24 with theopposite ends supported on the frame 28. The track 21 supports formovement parallel thereto a pair of racks 29. The racks pivotallysupport a shaft 3| upon which a pair of arms 32 is secured. The arms 32are pivoted to the arms 26 by a shaft 33. The racks 29 are driven inreciprocation from pinions 34 supported on a shaft 35 .and driventhrough a sprocket wheel 36 by a motor 31 oper- The shafts 25, 3| and 33carry pulleys 39 over which belts 4| are disposed and driven in rotationby the belts l8.

As a pair of cardboards is advanced by the operation of the belts l8 andbelts 4|, the motor 31 is actuated to cause the racks 29 to be operatedaway from the press 22 and fold the arms 32 and 26 relative to eachother. When a pair of padded cardboards are advanced upon the table theyare stacked in pairs with the padding material in face to face relation.

The motor31 is, thereafter, automatically reversed to move the racktoward the press 22 and thearms 32 and 26 into substantially horizontalrelation. Thereupon the operation of the belts 4| causes the unit toadvance onto the conveyor belts 43 to a position adjacent to the dies 2|of the press. A carriage 44 is mounted to operate in tracks 45 to beactuated by a projecting arm 46 on the rack 29 connected to the carriageby a pin and slot connection. Projecting fingers 4'! and 48 on thecarriage are raised and lowered therewith by the operation of links 49as the car-v riage is advanced and retracted relative to the press,respectively. This raises the stacked sheets from the belts 43 andretained by the fingers 4| advances them into the press. Duringthe'movement of the rack 29 away from the press 22, the links 49 operateto lower the carriage 44 and the fingers 41 and 48, the oppositemovement causes them to be raised. During the movement of the carriagetoward the press the fingers 48 are available to push the trimmedelements and material therefrom onto a conveyor belt carried by thetable 23 as a new pair of elements are moved between the dies.

In Fig. 4, we have illustrated one of a pair of the assembled paddedcardboards before being stamped by the dies. The backing element 5| ofcardboard or other material has the padding material 52 secured thereon.The elements are shown in stacked relation with the padding ma.- terialin face to face relation with the cardboard on thetopv and bottom of theassembly. The dies are of the well known type formed of male and femalepunch elements and mating knife edges which punch out holes 54 and outalong the line 53 respectively. The dies are also disposed to cut on thelines 55 to sever the remaining border so that it may be readily removedfrom the formed padded elements 56.

In Figs. 6 and 7, the formed padded element 56 is illustrated afterbeing covered by a trim material 51. The trim material is stretchedacross the padded face of the element 56 with its edges pasted to itsopposite face. This is preferably accomplished by a method and meansillustrated in the patent to Alfred H. Haberstump, No. 2,056,- 451,issued October 6, 1936, and assigned to the assignee of the presentinvention.

To accurately control the operation of the stacking table I9 after thepassage of a pair of padded cardboards 5| thereon, a photo-electric cell58 may be provided to retain the electric circuit to the motor 51 inopen position so long as a light 59 is directed thereon in the wellknown manner. advanced upon the stacking belts 4|, the most advancedsheet will intercept the rays from the light 59 and thereby permit thecircuit to the motor to be energized. The motor will operate to drivethe rack 29 and fold the elements one upon the other and return thestacking elements to horizontal position after which the stackedassembly will pass onto the belts 43 while intercepting the rays oflight to the cell 58. Thereafter the rays striking the cell will retainthe circuit in set position, ready to be completed when the rays areagain intercepted.

While we have illustrated and described but a single embodiment of ourinvention it will be apparent to anyone skilled in the art that variouschanges, omissions, additions and substitutions may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of our invention, as setforth in the accompanying claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. Apparatus for simultaneously forming right and left hand trim panelswhich includes a blanking press, means for feeding a pair of trim panelsserially toward said blanking press, conveyors serving automatically toarrange said trim panels in superimposed face-to-face relation and meansfor feeding said panels to said blanking press while thus arranged.

2. Apparatus for forming padded inner trim panels including a blankingpress, means for 1 feeding a pair of padded backing sheets seriallytoward said blanking press, mechanism for lower-' ing the rearward endof the forward backing sheet and the forward end of the rearward backingsheet to dispose these paddedbacking sheets in superimposed relationwith the padded surfaces thereof face-to-face and means for feeding saidpadded backing sheets while thus arranged to said blanking press.

CLARENCE W. AVERY.

ALFRED H. HABERSTUMP.

As soon as a pair of sheets has been r

